Chapter Discussions Retitled - Depression

[Doriane]

No: HPFGUIDX 69404

Melinda Leydon wrote:

> I moved this out of the Chapter Discussions cuz I wanted to ask 
> about something not in Chapter 1 that really struck me.  It struck 
> me as classic signs of depression, something I've never seen in 
> Harry before.  After the Dementor attack, when he's locked in his 
> room waiting for news from Ron, Hermione, or Sirius, he was there 
> for four days
> 
> (US edition, pg.44)
> Harry was filled alternately with restless energy that made him 
> unable to settle to anything, during which he paced his bedroom 
> again, furious at the whole lot of them for leaving him to stew in 
> this mess, and with a lethargy so complete that he could lie on his 
> bed for an hour at a time, staring dazedly into space, aching with 
> dread at the thought of the Ministry hearing.
(snip)
> These thigs all were screaming to me of classic signs of a 
> depression and I was kind of troubled by it.  I know JKR herself 
> has battled this so I was wondering if that is where she was going 
> with him for a while.

Okay, I agree with you on that one. When I read those lines, my 
immediate thought was "rapid cycling bipolar depression". My husband 
has it, so I can easily recognize it when I see it. So yes I agree 
that *during those few days*, Harry was indeed in a depressive 
episode. As I said in a previous post, I think he was on the verge of 
depression before the Dementor attack, and obviously the attack 
triggered a depressive episode. BUT a depressive episode isn't the 
same as depression. Harry was lucky that his friends didn't leave him 
in that state for too long : they came and rescued him, and he was 
then able to give way to his anger and frustration and even fears, 
and to tackle some action (even if only some cleaning up :-), and 
that kicked him out of depression. So yes he was probably depressed 
for a few days, but no he's not (yet) permanently depressed. However, 
with everything that happened in OoP, he could very well get into 
another, more serious, depressive episode. Especially if he starts 
beating himself up about Sirius's death...

Del